The police personnel deputed at the mega religious congregation Simhastha in April-May 2016 would not be allowed to carry cell phones or click selfies.

indoreUpdated: Nov 08, 2015 21:46 IST

Yogendra Pratap Singh Hindustan Times

The motive behind banning selfies and cell phones is to keep the entire focus on security and other arrangements on ground.(HT file photo)

The police personnel deputed at the mega religious congregation Simhastha in April-May 2016 would not be allowed to carry cell phones or click selfies. Only in-charge officers would be allowed to carry cell phones, that too basic models with longer battery life. They would, however, not be allowed to use it for making personal calls.

A decision in this regard was taken by the Madhya Pradesh police department after a preparatory or a study tour conducted by the department during the Nashik Kumbh Mela that was held a couple of months ago.

According to sources, a delegation of Madhya Pradesh police officials had visited the Nashik fair to study the police arrangement and found that police personnel remained too busy on their cell phones and kept clicking photographs and selfies, instead of focusing on their duties. This resulted in chaos-like situation at several points at the fair venue.

Special director general (home guards) MS Gupt, who is also the Simhastha nodal officer, said the motive behind banning selfies and cell phones was to keep the entire focus on security and other arrangements on ground.

“Simhastha is one of the biggest events of the country wherein crores of people will participate. We don’t want to leave any stone unturned regarding security and other arrangements,” Gupt told HT. He however said all the police personnel on duty at the mega affair would be connected through wireless sets.

“Only in-charge officers will be allowed to carry cell phones. But they have to ensure that they would not remain busy on personal calls during duty. The officers, who will carry cell phones, will have to give a written certificate every day that they didn’t use cell phone for personal calls,” Gupt said. He added that in case of any emergency in their families, policemen would be allowed to use the cell phones carried by in-charge officers or the phones at the control room.